Slaughtering of animals
Q: Please view the following quotation and verify:
The default ruling for the meat is Haram unless conditional clause of “إِلَّا مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ (unless you have properly slaughtered)” is fulfilled which renders it permissible to consume.
So, what is the default when it comes to the meat of animals before they are slaughtered? The default regarding animals as a whole is that they are halal unless there is a text forbidding them.
However, the default specifically regarding eating the meat of these animals is that it is haram until we are sure that they have been slaughtered properly. So, if doubt is introduced, we go back to the default ruling. This is a very important principle that many who write about the issue of slaughtered meats are heedless of, as they throw out the phrase ‘the
default in things is their permissibility’ and ‘certainty is not removed by doubt,’ and they conclude that the default in these doubtful meats is therefore that they are halal. This principle that all of the scholars of Fiqh have confirmed – either implicitly or explicitly – is that the default ruling of animals is that they are haram until it is confirmed that they have been slaughtered properly. And Imam Nawawi (RA) said in Al-Majmu, “This principle is a point of consensus between the scholars, and there is no dispute regarding it,” and he commented (in his commentary of Saheeh Muslim) on the hadith of ‘Adiyy bin Hatim that will be mentioned (if Allah Wills) by saying: “It shows an important principle, and this is that if
there is any doubt regarding the method of slaughter of an animal, it is not allowed to eat it due to the fact that the default ruling is that it is forbidden, and there is no dispute on this.”(The Ruling on Meat Slaughtered In the West by Shaykh Abdullah Azzam Shaheed (RA))
A: If tasmiyah was left out intentionally the meat of the animal will be haraam. If one is unclear about any meat sold by unscrupulous businessmen in the market, one should refrain from purchasing from such places.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا مِمَّا لَمْ يُذْكَرِ اسْمُ اللَّـهِ عَلَيْهِ وَإِنَّهُ لَفِسْقٌ وَإِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ لَيُوحُونَ إِلَىٰ أَوْلِيَائِهِمْ لِيُجَادِلُوكُمْ وَإِنْ أَطَعْتُمُوهُمْ إِنَّكُمْ لَمُشْرِكُونَ ﴿الأنعام: ١٢١﴾
(لا ) تحل ( ذبيحة ) غير كتابي من ( وثني ومجوسي ومرتد ... وتارك تسمية عمدا ) خلافا للشافعي ( فإن تركها ناسيا حل ) (الدر المختار 6/298-299)
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